Many exchanges throughout the world now support electronic trading. Electronic trading has made it possible for an increasing number of people to actively participate in a market at any given time. The increase in the number of potential market participants has advantageously led to, among other things, a more competitive market and greater liquidity.
A trader can connect to an exchange, for example, using a client device, and the exchange can serve as a host. Once connected, software running on the client device allows the trader to log onto one or more exchanges and participate in one or more markets. Some clients run software that creates specialized interactive trading screens. In general, the trading screens enable traders to enter orders into the market, obtain market quotes, and monitor positions. The range and quality of features available varies according to the specific trading software.
One such feature often displayed to traders is the last traded quantity (“LTQ”), which is typically associated with a last traded price (“LTP”). The LTQ generally reflects the quantity of the last match performed by the exchange's matching engine, while the LTP generally reflects the price level of the match. When a trader enters an order, the trader generally specifies a price and a quantity for the order. The order can be, for example, a buy or a sell order. When filling the order, the matching engine matches the order against all or part of one or more other orders. For example, a buy order at a specified limit price may be matched with a corresponding sell. Of course, an order may be matched against several orders, either at one or multiple price points, and an order may be matched against portions of one or more orders.
One situation where an order may be matched at multiple prices points occurs when a trader sweeps the market. A trader can sweep the market by placing an order opposite from the inside market. The inside market generally refers to the highest current bid price and lowest current ask price. Thus, a buy order placed above the inside market can sweep the market. Similarly, a sell order placed below the inside market can sweep the market.
FIG. 1A is a trading screen showing an example of a market for a tradable object. The trading screen includes a price column 100, which displays various price levels for the tradable object. A bid column 102 displays a quantity of bids, which is an offer to buy, at corresponding price levels. An ask column 104 displays a quantity of asks, which is an offer to sell, at corresponding price levels. A LTQ column 106 displays the last traded quantity matched by the matching engine, and, as shown in FIG. 1A, it is depicted in conjunction with the corresponding LTP. As depicted in FIG. 1A, the inside market is 8 bid @ 95 and 4 ask @ 96.
To illustrate an order matching at several price points and the last traded quantity, consider an order to buy 22 @ 98. A buy 22 @ 98 is an order to buy a quantity of 22 at a price of 98. The matching engine then attempts to fill the order based on the current state of the market. As shown in FIG. 1A, the market currently offers 4 at 96, 17 at 97, and 2 at 98. The matching engine begins by filling the order at the most favorable ask price.
So, the buy 22 @ 98 is filled under the matching engine by buying 4 @ 96, buying 17 @ 97, and buying 1 @ 98. In this example, the matching engine took the one new order and matched it at several different price points. FIG. 1B is a trading screen illustrating a display of the market state after filling the order at multiple price points. As shown in FIG. 1B, after filling the buy 22 @ 98 order, there are no more asks at the 96 or 97 prices levels. These matched with the buy order. Similarly, the ask quantity at the 98 level is decreased to one, because one ask at this level matched against the buy 22 @ 98 order.
The LTQ column 106 includes an entry at the 98 price level. In filling the buy 22 @ 98 order, the matching engine first matched a quantity of four offered at the 96 price level. Next, the matching engine matched seventeen at the 97 price level. Finally, the matching engine matched one at the 98 price level. As the matching engine last matched a quantity of one at the 98 price level, the LTQ column 106 displays a “1” at the 98 price level. Thus, the LTQ value is a partial fill quantity instead of a total fill quantity, which would be displayed only if the buy 22 @ 98 order fully matched at a single price level.
While the market state depicted in FIG. 1B may occur due to a sweep order, it may also occur due to other market events. Thus, the transition from the market depicted in FIG. 1A to the market depicted in FIG. 1B may occur due to market changes other than a sweep order. For example, the traders having ask orders at the 96 and 97 prices levels may cancel their orders, and a single order may be matched at the 98 price level. The LTQ column 106 would then reflect a single order matched at the 98 price level, and the ask quantities at the 96 and 97 price levels would be removed to reflect the cancellations. Of course, other combinations of cancellations and orders may also cause the market to transition from the state depicted in FIG. 1A to the state depicted in FIG. 1B.
In two typical methods for providing updates to the trading software, an exchange may provide a separate update for each market change, or an exchange may provide updates at periodic intervals that indicate market changes during the preceding time period. These methods may then affect the display of the LTQ. For example, when an order sweeps the market, the trader would only see the LTQ value of the last match made by the matching engine. For an exchange the provides only periodic updates, the trader may not be able to judge how many orders matched at other price levels, because the periodic update would include the LTQ value for the last executed trade and not for all the preceding trades. Also, the trader may not be able to determine whether orders were cancelled at other price levels, or whether a combination of matches and cancellations occurred. For an exchange that provides updates for each market change, the trading software may display a series of LTQ values in quick succession. While the trading software may display each LTQ value, the values may be displayed so rapidly that the trader may miss viewing all of the matches, thereby causing the trader to misjudge the market conditions.
In the following detailed description, a trading method and interface for displaying last traded quantity information are described. These tools provide advantages, as described below, to a trader in an electronic trading environment.